Quick-Hitter Thursday

Mark and I get together semi-regularly and play music in a sort of surreal jam-like fashion which we think is cool but is probably dreary and obnoxious to anyone else (which is sad, because we're planning on coming out with an album one of these days). Mark plays bass, but lately he's started taking to the guitar again, and it occurred to me on Saturday, when last we convened, that he plays the guitar in a manner totally unlike anybody else I know. Most musicians, if they are playing along to a tune they don't know, will watch the other players or play a couple of tentative notes until they figure out what key everyone's in and/or what the chord progression is. Mark never does this, he just plays. If you asked him what key he's in, he'd have no idea, and he wouldn't know what chords are being played either. As far as I can tell by watching him play, he does it entirely by feel (and, I guess, by sound), as if he has entirely skipped the translation step anyone else would normally go through to accompany an unfamiliar tune. I find this pretty cool; I suspect it also has a lot to do with the fact that we're pretty used to each others' styles at this point.